


Bound by blood and fears

by Emilywemily



Category: Homestuck, IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternia is Terrible, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Gore, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Abuse, Children’s fears, Comedy, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Crossover, Culling (Homestuck), Gore, Homophobic Language, Horror, Minor Character Death, Psychological Horror, Summer, deepest Darkest fears, fears
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28386888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emilywemily/pseuds/Emilywemily
Summary: Mike, after being sent to his room for misbehaving, hears a loud crash in his backyard. Going out he had no idea he was about to get into. Neither did any of the other losers.Aliens, bullies, and inter-dimensional nightmare clowns who eat children, oh my!(Trigger warning for homophobia, and a few short mention of racism in the first chapter.)
Relationships: Ben Hanscom/Beverly Marsh, Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Karkat Vantas & Mike Hanlon, Sollux Captor/Karkat Vantas, Terezi Pyrope/Karkat Vantas





	Bound by blood and fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me if what I’ve written is offensive. I’ll change it immediately.

Mike was having a hard time. Being homeschooled meant he’d at least evade bullying and racism from kids his age, but it didn’t mean that bowers and his gang of idiots would go easy on him.   
  


He hated working on the farm, having to watch his grandfather kill the helpless sheep. He knew he ate them, and he enjoyed it but... he still didn’t like being forced to watch them get killed.

” _you’ll_ _have to do it eventually Mike!”_ his grandpa would say. “ _The longer you avoid doing this, the harder it’ll be. Man up already!”_

He didn’t want to man up if it meant doing what his grandpa did.   
  


That refusal had gotten him sent to his room one night.   
  


It was dark out as it was winter, but it was still only five o’clock in the evening. The sky was clear. Mike was moping in his bedroom, sat on his bed grumbling to himself slightly. But if he was being honest, he was more sad then angry. Sad that he couldn’t be the person his guardian wanted him to be. Sad that he couldn’t stomach killing a lamb the same way he could stomach eating one. And most of all, he was sad that he didn’t have any friends he could vent to right now over a telephone call. God, he was so fucking lonely. He’d tried. He really had tried. But friend making just didn’t come easily to him. Whether that was due to prejudice on their part, or awkwardness on his, he didn’t know. But one thing he did know was that he was going to try his best to change that this summer. He had to put extra effort into being cool. Maybe he was just too nerdy? He knew he talked about farming ethics way too much. He suspected that was what had stopped him from making friends. He was only twelve so he had plenty of time, his birthday in three months. However, that didn’t make him feel any more hopeful than he was before.   
  


He paced around his room, thinking about what to do. What did kids his age like? Comics? Pop music? The arcade? He was pretty sure-

**Crash!**

  
  
What the hell was that!?

He ran up to his window and hastily shoved it open. His eyes frantically scanning the area until they landed on something. It was a silver, round, giant metal ball. Steam was coming off it. He wasted no time in slipping on his shoes, getting a jacket and a torch. Carefully creeping out of his room and down the stairs, he, as quietly as he possibly could, he opened the front door of the house and sped through the back garden towards the mysterious object.

Tentatively approaching the circular contraption, he shon his torchlight over it and as he grew closer, he could make out intricate markings. They almost looked like words, but certainly not like any language he’d ever seen before.   
  


He placed his hand on the metal outer shell, but yanked it back as soon as he felt how the metal was hot to the touch. “Ow, fuck!” He hissed.   
  


The metal made a low, but distinct humming sound. An alarm perhaps? ‘ _Oh shit, did I set something off?!’_ he mentally panicked, instinctively taking a step back. The metal clicked one, two, three times before stopping. Then the pattern repeated twice more. With a sudden high pitched sound (not unlike what you’d hear as feedback from a microphone) which caused Mike to block his ears due to the volume, a round circle on the object popped off and flew with force into the distance and through the tree line near Mike’s house. Smoke expelled from the inside as the farmer finally managed to move his feet, extremely careful when approaching. Could there be... was there something inside? Or maybe even _someone?  
_

As the smoke (or it may be steam) cleared, the twelve year old shon his flashlight inside the new opening the metal sphere has made, he gasped. There- there was a person inside!   
  


He walked up to the boy (boy? Girl? He was currently unsure, but the person inside looked a little more on the masculine side from what he could make out in the dark. Which, mind you, even with his torch wasn’t a whole lot) and used both his hands while still holding the torch to drag him out of the machine. The person in his arms was unconscious, but didn’t look injured.   
  


He placed the boy on his bed, before turning on his bedroom light. That was when he stifled a scream.   
  


“Mike! What’s going on?” Called one of his grandfather’s friends. “I- I’m fine, just thought I saw something!” He responded with haste. That seemed to get the man to calm down before walking away. Once Mike was sure there were no footsteps, and no one is around, he stared at the unconscious... _thing..._ on his bed. The creature was most definitely an alien. Its extremely black hair wasn’t in individual strands, it was clumped together in tough wiry streaks. Its skin was light grey, it’s eyes sunken and heavily bagged. It had short, yet incredibly sharp claws. It had an overbite, revealing not dangerously sharp, but pointed teeth. But what stood out the most, were the two candy-corn coloured short, rounded horns on its head. It was wearing a grey jumper with the zodiac sign of cancer on it in a lighter grey. It had light grey jeans and pure black trainers.   
  


It took everything Mike had not to yell at it right then and there. Was it intelligent? Or was it some weird pet from another planet, sent here to wipe out the population to make way for bigger, more scary aliens!?   
  


Mike pushed that thought to the back of his brain. He didn’t need it right now.

————————————

It was hours before the alien finally stirred. Making a soft groaning noise. Mike had gone out to the ship and brought back the three bags that were in with the thing when it arrived.   
  


The things eye’s opened. Revealing yellow eyes with a black pupil. Its breathing hitched in its throat. Eyes wide and frantic. Mike stared at the thing curiously. Watching it sit up and begin hyperventilating. “Hey. Psst.” Mike called, making the strange grey skinned creature’s head snap round to face him. Mike put up two hands, slowly approaching the thing with caution. “I’m not gonna hurt you, ok?” Shit, could this thing even talk? Could it understand he meant no harm? He hoped so, because unlike its teeth, those claws looked strong enough to draw blood. The thing made a snarling noise and mumbled some clicks. Was it... was it trying to communicate? Holy shit. Then again, it could just be doing the equivalent to a cat hiss.

It hastily backed away from Mike, fear evident in its frantic movements and heavy breathing. Mike continued to approach the thing, hands still up in a hopefully reassuring manner. The alien bolted passed him towards the door, but Mike grabbed it before it could run out. “No! You can’t, not now. They’ll see you- ow!” The creature had clawed Mike mid sentence. Red blood dripped from his arm, he held it back, fearfully stepping away from the creature. More angry sounding clicks came before the short creature stared at the blood on its claws in shock. Then grabbed Mike’s arm and stared in what looked like disbelief. After a second, it thankfully let him go, one hand held up, eyebrows knitted together in concern. Was it trying to apologise? “It’s fine, dude. Just don’t do it again, yeah?” He asked, knowing full well it couldn’t understand him. In truth the cut was only just deep enough to make him bleed, and Mike wouldn’t put it past the alien being able to do more damage if it wanted. So it was pretty obvious this was accidental.   
  


It pointed towards the door, but Mike shook his head. “No, it’s dangerous!” He exclaimed, gently grabbing the thing’s arm. “Bad. Don’t do that, ok?” He brought it to the back of the room. It looked up at him expectantly, pointing a clawed finger at the bags that were in the corner of the room. “Shit, I mean, umm yeah sure thing.” He mumbled bringing them over. He had looked in them, as bad as that might be as this creature seemed at least capable of basic intelligence. It frantically searched inside all three bags before sighing with relief and pulling out a small device. It was black, and had some green writing on the side in the same weird language that was written on the ravenett’s ship. It pushed a button on the top before clicking into it. It turned to the human, pointing at it and chirping something before handing it over to the farmer. Confused, Mike healed down the button before speaking into it. “Hello, umm, I’m Mike Hanlon?” He finished before hesitantly handing it back.   
  


The creature flicked some switches and turned some nobs before a slightly different type of clicking came through. The thing nodded, before speaking into the thing again. “My name is Karkat Vantas. Where is my ship and where am I?” Came a robotic male voice. Huh, he was probably a guy then. “It’s outside. I got all of your stuff from it. But it kind of collapsed? Anyway, you can’t get to it.”

After playing it back, he looked mildly annoyed. “Is your parent home?” Came the voice. Mike nodded and it groaned. “You’re in my home, you are a boy right?” He stared and barked out a ear piercing shriek. But he was smiling. He guessed the thing was laughing?   
“no I am. You’re home smells like shit.” Mike couldn’t help but laugh at his bluntness. The thing was definitely as smart as he was. He supposed he should start referring to him as just ‘karkat’ in that case. Suddenly. The thi- Karkat looked a little distressed. “It collapsed? You mean I can’t operate it? Fuck, am I stuck here?!” The machine didn’t do karkat’s panic justice. Mike shrugged. “I don’t know, man. We can take a look in the morning but you’re gonna have to wait, ok?” Karkat nodded. But just as he did, the thing alerted him and clicked something. Karat looked shocked. “It’s...it’s running out of power. Shit.” Mike gasped in alarm. “Hey no don’t worry karkat, I’ll teach you some English?” Karkat once again laughed. “What makes you think I’m staying here with your bulgelicking fuckass? My ship will still work. Like thanks and everything but I don’t want to stay with someone who could kill me at maybe any point and who’s house smells like shit that’s been lit on fire after someone vomited it?”

Wow. So he was rude. “Fuck off. Leave now and you’ll be shot.” Mike warned. He seemed unfazed by the threat and shrugged. But rolled his eyes and sighed. “I expected as much. But I still can’t trust _you_ not to hurt me when my back is turned.” Mike supposed he had a point. “I promise.” He gave him a flat look. “Well since you promised, all my fears have magically gone away!” Mike shoved him lightly and he grumbled. “Fine. If I hear you make one move I’m out of here. Oh and thanks... or whatever.” The machine voice spoke. Mike smiled. He guessed it took a lot for karkat to say thanks. A beat of comfortable silence went between the two boys before Karkat broke it. “I didn’t hurt you too bad earlier did I? I didn’t realise your skin was so easy to break.” Mike was about to retaliate when he realised he actually wasn’t trying to offend that time. He seemed genuinely shocked. “Are you a mutant too?”   
  


Wait what? What did Karkat mean by that? “What are you talking about?” He asked warily, swallowing a little. Karkat cocked an eyebrow. “Your blood. It’s like mine. It’s red.” ‘ _Was... was red blood not commen where Karkat’s from_?’ Mike thought uneasily. The machine beeped again. Clicking out of the speaker. “We’ve got fifteen minutes before it’s pretty much permanently dead.” He said a little sadly. Wow that was a shitty translator.   
  


“What’s wrong with red blood? No, wait, why are you here?” Krakatoa sighed at that. “I’m guessing you don’t have the hemospectrum on your planet?” Mike shook his head. “Nothing like that on earth.” He said, and Karkat seemed relieved to know the planet’s name. “Well it’s a spectrum of blood colour. Fuchsia being at the top, then violet, purple, indigo, blue, teal, jade, olive, gold, bronze and rust.” He paused. Mike idicated for Karkat to hand him the machine. “Why is it separated?” Karkat grumbled angrily. “Because highbloods are assholes.” Was the response. “The low bloods, mid bloods, and highbloods typically don’t interact but they can. They can be friends or lovers. But it’s rare,” he explained. He then let out a heavy sigh. “I’m not on the spectrum. Highbloods can already kill lowbloods for almost any reason perfectly legally. But I’m _supposed_ to be killed. I’m not supposed to be alive.” Mike stood there in shock. “That’s...that’s awful! Holy shit! But...what are you telling me this?” He asked, sympathetic but confused. “I figured you’d ask that. That’s why I left. I’d been found out. At the capital I ran like-” It cut off. “Like what?” The human prompted.

”Like a coward, Mike.” He seemed extremely determined that was the case. Mike looked at him with empathy. “We separate based on skin colour. Well fucking pieces of shit do at least. And although you can’t legally kill for it, it sure as hell doesn’t stop people from doing that. It happens to me and I...” Mike trailed off. “What? Really?” He asked, and although the voice was emotionless, Karkat’s face was full of something akin to guilt and sorrow. An odd expression for the angry and rude alien to have.   
  


Mike sniffed and nodded. The two sat silently. “What was your planet called. And your race. We’re called humans.” Mike asked eagerly, figuring he’d use the translator while he still could. “I’m from Alternia. Different galaxy. And my species is called trolls.” He explained, probably so talkative due to the lack of time. “I’m six sweeps. How old are you?” Mike was confused. “Do you mean years?” He shook his head. “How...how many months are in sweeps?” Karkat thought for a second. “Twenty six.” He answered plainly. Oh so he was 13. “I would be the same age then I guess?” Karkat nodded with a smile he was obviously trying to hide.   
  


————————————

It had been three hours. The translator had faded out by now. And karkat had made a small pile of pillows and curled up into them to rest. It was kind of cute if Mike was being honest.

 _’shit, is karkat purring? That’s hilarious.’_ Mike smiled. He’d made his new alien friend go into the corner where he could hide should his grandfather come in for any reason. Sleeping with a creature in his room was strange, but now he knew Karkat wouldn’t hurt him, he had relaxed considerably since.   
  


Karkat was rustling slightly. Noises and groans coming from his pile thing. Mike tentatively crept up, poking him gently until he stirred, red tear streaks lining his face. He was heavy breathing. “You ok?” He asked. Karkat nodded, but it was obvious he was lying. Mike sat down. “Go to sleep ok, asshole?” He asked smiling, miming the motion of sleep. Karkat nodded, curling up into a ball, hair covering his eyes. Mike walked off back to his bed.   
  


God this was strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason he’s using human terms is because the translator does that automatically.


End file.
